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Wine Wednesday: Introducing Truvée by the McBride Sisters

It’s not unusual to refer to wine making as a family affair, but Andrea and Robin McBride are far from your typical winemakers. Their newly launched wine label, Truvée, is a nod to how the sisters, in fact half-sisters, found (get it, trouvée… truvée…) each other despite growing up continents apart. “We found each other, now we want people to find a wine that matters to them,” Andréa shared at a luncheon I recently attended to introduce Truvée to Washington, D.C. In addition to sampling great food (the luncheon was hosted at BToo afterall) and tasting good wine, I also got to hear firsthand the amazing story of how these long-lost sisters met and got to where they are today.

Robin and Andrea McBride Introducing their wines Truvee at a luncheon at BToo

See, Andréa grew up in the Marlborough area of New Zealand. Robin in Monterey California. They shared a father, but didn’t know of each other’s existence until after he passed away. Today I’m sure they sure social media would have made it a lot easier for them to find other. But this was 1999, and it was all snail mail and phone calls that eventually helped reunite them. Over the years, they developed a deep and lasting friendship and discovered that, in addition to striking good looks and curly hair, they also shared a mutual interest in the wine business and a desire to explore opportunities in that area. Together, they launched Eco.love Wines, a wine company focused on exporting and distributing New Zealand wines that use sustainable practices throughout the production process. Eco.love Wines was Andrea’s baby and their newly launched venture, Truvée, takes them closer to Robin’s turf in California’s Central Coast. Currently, Truvée produces two wines: a Chardonnay and a Red Blend, with grapes for both sourced from vineyards in the Central Coast of California.

Not only is their personal story amazing, but Andrea and Robin McBride are also the first African American sisters to run their own wine company. AND their wine is almost as good as the personal story behind it! Yes, their story is compelling, but it wouldn’t mean that much is they couldn’t back it up with some solid grape juice. While their white is still not going to convert me into a Chardonnay drinker (I did enjoy it in a spritzer though), I thought their red blend, a combination of grenache and syrah, had a silky texture, some surprising notes and a perfect price point at a $15.99 suggested retail price. Backed by Diageo Chateau & Estates, I can only hope that Truvée lovely bottles (full disclosure, my living room is the same blue as the label on their Chardonnay so I’m a little bit biased….) are going to pop up in wine shops all over the D.C. area* pretty soon… and when they do, pick up a bottle (or two) and give the McBride sisters’ wine a try!

* you can currently find Truvée wines at Harris Teeter, Schneider’s of Capitol Hill, Dupont Circle Wines & Liquors and Chinatown Liquor among others, as well as bars and restaurants like B Too, The Graham Georgetown, Cities and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.